i have to say, dealing with a co i dealt long ago (not AA) was less than fun. 2 stupid items were to have been HERE before 5pm, the rear tin seal being the big deal. i also got one other thing i either misplaced or lost. the rear trans rod sleeve/siding ring/bushing to be exact. THIS WAS THE ENCOUNTER :" my catalog shows 2 pieces, a cup and a firewall bushing". "no i want the third one, where the rod, enters the rear shifter coupling" "so you don't want the one for the firewall?'. "correct". "so, you want the cup?". " no". "well those are the two we stock". "now, are you looking at an exploded parts diagram?". "no". "bring one up on your screen". " ok". look at the end of the long rods". " oh, MY CATALOG DOESN'T HAVE A PICTURE, THERE IT IS!" my head was ready to explode. christ, i could sit in my house and aleast sell people what they needed. wasn't the internet going to free us from HAVING to work in close to your home? oh the seal? DIDN'T COME!! TWEEKS , WHAT A PAIN.

KEVIN

You should get the bronze shifter bushing for there Kevin, works out really nice. GPR has them and Dave is 914 savvy.
Geoff

Pelican didn't have it? You sure? I got mine yesterday. No kidding. If I got the last one... sorry. If it's any consolation I would have rather got the bronze one but didn't know who it was that sells them (GPR) until just now. Guess we both lost.

-Ben M.

Just curious, which person were you talking to?

Recently, I've been having problems with Pelican. Wayne, while not admitting anything was wrong, seemed to imply that they were working very long hours to keep up demand. I think they've added some inexperienced people in the growth.

I am sure they will be back to normal soon.

Now, were talking the rear shift console shift rod bushing? They didn't have that? Seems very very odd.

James

i didn't bother with the fellow's name from pelican. he told me nla on the rear tin seal, just didn't seem possible, i asked him if he was sure 2 or 3 times . maybe it was too early, 8:05 or so. i was going to use the seal off of the 72', but i couldn't get it out without distroying it w/ the engine in. i wasn't about to pull another engine for a piece of rubber. bottom line, i can't put my engine in.

kevin

Kevin, I hope that you can get your seal soon. If it doesn't show up, let me know.

I took a lot of heat for criticizing (more than once) Pelican in public. Wayne always has some sad song and dance about poor help, expanding warehouse space, growing too fast, etc, etc, etc. I think the problem is that Wayne is too busy being an author/ web administrator/ etc... and not spending enough time on their core function: satisifying parts customers.

After the last fiasco with the Permatune, I just freaking snapped. If it had just been the one problem, I would have never acted the way I did. Even Wayne used to joke about how they were going to screw up my next order. It wasn't funny.

-Rusty

I always go through the website and order online. If I need it overnight, I leave all the details on the screen and then call. You cannot trust them to immediately send out an order put in through the web.

James

this was a phone order. i asked the guy pointedly if it would be delivered by fri. he assured me it would, this was on last tues. my computer leaves at 7 am work days. ever notice the times on most of my postings and replies?

kevin

There's another PP in the picture, Performance Products. With their sale and low price guarantee, you shouldn't have to worry about the reputation they have for high prices. In the few times I have dealt with them, I have wondered why I haven't gone back for more. If you deal with pelican, ask for Darren. Even have him call you back if necessary. Darren is a 914 owner and knows his stuff.

Wayne's function at PP is to administer the website. He is not the parts guy, that's Tom. And Lord knows Wayne should not try to be their PR guy. He may write a good book, but I hope he never takes on a book about customer relations. That's not his forte'.

I buy a LOT of stuff online - basically everything in my life except groceries (WebVan and PeaPod went out of business, LOL).

Although I have been dealing with Pelican since the "early days" (1999), and have been happy overall, I am sad to say that I find myself going back less and less lately. They are now one of the slowest and least consistent suppliers I've worked with, in terms of shipping turnaround and overall responsiveness to online orders and questions. Some of my orders have taken 4-6 weeks to receive, with no status information provided until after the shipment went out. I am convinced that two of these most recent orders had actually been "dropped" until I emailed asking where the hell they were. A credit card refund on another order took a month to post, and again didn't happen at all until I complained/inquired what was going on.

On the other end of the spectrum. I placed an online order with Pegasus Racing late last Sunday night. I then realized Monday morning that I needed to change the order. I called them the next day at noon-1pm and my order was already boxed and waiting on the dock for UPS pickup. The customer service lady went into the back room and reboxed my order, removing the $300 non-returnable part I had asked to cancel, and still got my remaining order shipped out that day. I had the box on Wednesday. Excellent.

I have very recently had similarly "quick and hassle-free" online experiences with Paragon, GPR, Elephant Racing, Supercircuits, Camping World and a whole slew of other vendors of p-car and electronic goodies. Click mouse button, find box at doorstep 2 days later. No drama, end of story.

For better or worse, that is the kind of service that we have grown to "expect" these days, and IMHO Pelican has slipped somewhat from the high standard they used to portray. Perhaps Wayne has decided it's easier to make a living by writing books vs selling low-margin car parts?

Paragon and Summitt...

'nuff said.

Well, I might as well pile on. My last order with Pelican didn't go so well either. I placed the order after 3p.m. While the guy was taking my order his cell phone rang, he put down the receiver with me and let me sit there for several minuets listening to him have a conversation with his friend about what they were going to do that night. When he came back he didn't even apologize. I decided overnight to cancel the one part and called the next morning at 8 a.m. I was told the person that took the order wasn't in yet but they would be sure to have him cancel the part and issue a credit. When the order arrived the canceled part was there and there was only one oil filter when I had paid for two. Of course I didn't get a credit for the canceled part. I was so disgusted that I didn't bother calling to complain. I sold the unneeded console ear at a loss and chalked it up to experience. I'll buy from them again but they won't be the first I call.

I'm the exact same way but you 'Mericans have it better than we poor Canadians. For example, go to Sears.com and do a search for torque wrenches and then go to Sears.ca and do the same search. Same thing for Amazon.ca. At least I still have Stongs http://www.stongs.com where I live.

BTW, this thread has very useful vendor information. In the recent past, I bought a couple of keys, a key fob and a (tiny) 914 spec booklet from Tweeks and they charged me US$ 18.00 to ship it. (I left a note with my online order that they should email me the shipping cost before sending the order but they never did). I bitched about this on Rennlist and some people gave me grief about complaining. I regularly have much larger packages shipped from Germany and the states and it usually costs less than US$5.00. I can get most small packages sent "Priority" mail from the US for $3.85.

WHOOA, i wasn't taking the piss out of pelican when i started with this topic. when i went with " why didn't pelican have it?", i was wishing that they DID. my dealings with pelican, aside from the miscom on the seal, have been beyond reproach. my bitch is with tweeks. i played the supid games with them 10 years ago. they have not evolved a bit. same crap, different day.

kevin